A Jan. 8, 2020 study stated that cutting out bad lifestyle habits increases life expectancy. It was a publication in the British Medical Journal by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The senior author of the study was Frank Hu, chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School. The researchers looked at data collected from a large group of males and females that had been accumulated for 34 years. They found that a 50-year-old male or female who did not change their lifestyle habits had another 25.5 years to live for males and another 29 years to live for females.

Five bad lifestyles and life expectancy

The 5 bad lifestyle habits were smoking, a body mass index above 25.0, excessive alcohol intake, less than 30 minutes of exercise per day and an unhealthy diet.

When people cut out all of those risky lifestyles, 50-year-old men and women had a life expectancy of 37.6 years for men and 43.1 years for women. This was an addition of 12 years of healthy life for men compared to controls who did not change their lifestyles. With regard to women there was an addition of 14 years of life compared to controls.

Diseases that kill prematurely

The research team wanted to know what diseases caused the most reduction in life expectancy when people did not change their bad lifestyle habits. Men and women who cut out all negative lifestyle habits were 82% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease. They also were 65% less likely to die from cancer. Bad lifestyles caused the two major diseases, cardiovascular disease (heart attack and strokes) and cancer, which increased overall mortality. The overall study time was about 30 years. The third major disease that can cost lives is diabetes. In addition, the research team identified chronic diseases as being another potential cause of people dying prematurely.

Additional life expectancy

When life expectancies were broken down according to diseases, the following was noticed.

For men:

When cancer free When free of heart issues Without diabetes

6 more years 9 more years 10 more years

For women:

When cancer free When free of heart issues Without diabetes

8 more years 10 more years 12 more years

Dr. Frank Hu, who chairs the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said: ”We found that following a healthy lifestyle can substantially extend the years a person lives disease-free”. Those who do not shed their bad lifestyle habits will come down with one or more of the mentioned diseases and die prematurely. Others who cut out all their bad lifestyle choices live substantially longer.

Diseases caused by poor lifestyle habits

It is important to review the diseases that shorten life expectancy due to having poor lifestyle habits.

Cardiovascular disease

Smoking, lack of regular exercise and poor eating habits result in being overweight or developing obesity. All of these are risks with LDL cholesterol elevation and HDL cholesterol lowering that leads to heart attacks and strokes. Here is a study that shows how life is shortened after a heart attack.

It is clear from this how important it is to give up all of the poor lifestyle habits to avoid this from happening.

Cancer

Heavy drinking can contribute and also lead to cancer of the liver, esophageal cancer, cancer of mouth and throat and cancer of the breasts in women. In addition, cancer of the colon and rectum are also caused by consuming too much alcohol in both sexes.

Diabetes

There are a variety of risk factors causing diabetes. Obesity, a lack of exercise, a bad diet with too much carbohydrates and the aging process are what contributes to the development of type 2 diabetes.

We see again that it is largely lifestyle issues that drive the onset of this disease. People who have developed diabetes need to control their blood sugar very closely to avoid complications of diabetes. This includes making healthier choices.

Otherwise complications of diabetes are diabetic nephropathy, blindness from macular degeneration of the cornea, heart attacks, stroke and diabetic neuropathy. In addition, vascular complications also include artery occlusions in the lower extremities with frequent foot or below knee amputations.

Chronic diseases

Often chronic diseases develop when there is generalized development of inflammation. COPD, chronic kidney disease and arthritis are examples of such conditions. In addition, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, asthma, Crohn’s disease, cystic fibrosis and diabetes belong into this category. All of these chronic diseases have in common that cytokines produce inflammation in the body. This keeps the chronic disease going and makes it more difficult to cure. When the person with a chronic disease makes poor lifestyle choices, the inflammation just becomes more chronic.

Smoking is one of the factors that makes chronic inflammation more chronic. Having a body mass index above 25.0 (being overweight) and above 30.0 (obesity) also creates more inflammation in the body. Excessive alcohol intake damages body cells and releases free radicals. These in turn cause inflammation and make the chronic disease more difficult to treat. An unhealthy diet tends to raise the bad LDL cholesterol, introduces pesticides and other chemicals into the system and adds to the chronic inflammation. Finally, a lack of exercise is not contributing to a healthy circulation and lowers the protective HDL cholesterol, paving the way for heart attacks and strokes.

Cutting Out Bad Lifestyle Habits Increases Life Expectancy

Conclusion

Bad lifestyle habits are what causes us to get illnesses and die prematurely. Functional medicine and anti-aging medicine are at the frontier of modern medicine. These specialties are teaching us how to stay well and age gracefully. For decades conventional medicine has treated only symptoms, but not the causes of diseases. But this has not changed the mortality rates of heart attacks and cancer. Smoking, a body mass index above 25.0, excessive alcohol intake, exercising less than 30 minutes of exercise per day and an unhealthy diet are causes that make us sick. These bad lifestyle factors cause chronic inflammation in our system. They are the real cause of heart attacks, strokes, cancer and diabetes, the major killer diseases that prevent healthy aging.

Facing bad lifestyle habits

Bad lifestyle habits cause chronic inflammation. T he C-reactive protein blood test can measure the degree of inflammation that is present. A fasting insulin level can detect whether a person is in danger of developing diabetes and improved lifestyle habits can prevent this from happening. Men can add 12 years and women 14 years of healthy life by eliminating bad lifestyle habits. By eliminating chronic inflammation our new life expectancy, which is 79 to 80 years, now can reach 92 to 94 years. It is up to you how healthy you stay and whether or not you age gracefully.

Dr. Anna Lembke gave a talk about the opioid epidemic on Dec. 13, 2019. This was at the 27th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas from Dec. 13 to 15th, 2019. The full title of her presentation was “From Freud to Fentanyl: Update on the Opioid Epidemic.” Dr. Lembke is an associate professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. From 1999 to 2010 opioid sales went up 6-fold. Opioid treatment admissions and opioid deaths have risen 5-fold in the same time period. Physicians prescribe too many opioid pills. One slide summarized how patients got opioid pills. 53% had pain pills given by friends for free or bought opioids from them. 37.5% received pain pills from a doctor by prescription. 6% bought pain pills from a drug dealer or a stranger. In about 3.4% it was not traceable how the persons using drugs obtained them.

Compassionate doctor and drug-seeking patient

The doctor went through medical school wanting to care about patients. Compassion to help is a powerful motivating force. On the other hand, most patients are glad that the physician wants to help and they do their part to contribute to healing. Except, there is a small percentage of patients who take advantage of a soft-hearted physician. They will demand prescriptions, even if they are not in pain. They may do this to sell the drugs to get some extra income. Others take more pills than what the doctor prescribed, because they want to get high on the drugs. Patients who have an addiction to pain pills, have a process in their brain, called neuroadaptation. Whenever the dosage in the blood goes down, they are now adapted to taking more pills.

About the opioid epidemic and the role of Big Pharma

Pharmaceutical marketing spent more than 26 billion USD in 2012. This consisted of drug representatives visiting doctor’s offices and giving hand-outs of free samples to physicians. There were promotional mailings, advertisements, direct-to-consumer advertising and educational and promotional meetings. In addition, pharmaceutical marketing included sponsoring clinical trials. In 1980 there was still an opinion that pain drugs would be harmless and in the majority of cases would not be the cause for abuse.

Purdue Pharma, the producer of the pain pill OxyContin, was caught in secretly pushing the sales of OxyContin in order to sell more of their drug suboxone, which helps with drug withdrawal.

Three myths about drug addiction

Myth #1: Opioids work for chronic pain

The pain pill producers have been pushing for the concept that pain pills would work for chronic pain. However, clinical studies showed that pain pills will only work for acute pain and when it becomes chronic pain, pills against pain become less reliable. People who take pain pills for chronic pain enter into a vicious cycle. They need to take more pain pills to experience relief from pain. But they often do not realize that the drug withdrawal pain is what gets them into seeking more drugs.

Purdue stated this:“We now know that many patients with chronic, non-malignant pain respond very well to opioids. The barriers to vastly improved treatment for hundreds of thousands of people in pain, are simply the misinformation and prejudice of doctors, pharmacists and regulatory bodies.” Purdue Physicians’ Pain Management Speaker Training Program, April 1997

Myth #2: When it comes to opioids, no dose is too high and no duration is too long

This reflects what Purdue says to increase its pain medication sales.“Opioids are effective, easily titrated, and have a favorable benefit-to-risk ratio. Large doses of opioids may be necessary to control pain if it is severe, and extended courses may be necessary if the pain is chronic.” Purdue Physicians’ Pain Management Speaker Training Program, April 1997

Evidence from unbiased researchers show that opioids taken in high doses and taken over long periods of time harm patients.

Myth # 3: Less than 1% will get addicted to pain pills

Purdue stated:“Contrary to our teaching, addiction is very rare and possibly nonexistent as a result of treating such patients with opioids.” Purdue Physicians’ Pain Management Speaker Training Program, April 1997

Here is the truth: A meta-analysis of 38 studies showed that people abused pain pills on average between 21 and 29%. Addiction rates were between 8% and 12%. These figures likely are under estimates. The authors said that the real figure of opioid abuse is likely about 40%.

Poor people treated differently

Poor people on Medicaid in the US receive twice the rate of opioids as do non-Medicaid patients. But Medicaid patients die at 6-times the rate from prescription overdoses. Often patients receive a prescription for pain pills and also a prescription for benzodiazepines. The doctor prescribes benzodiazepines for sleep problems or anxiety. Drug interactions of two potentially addicting drugs likely are more detrimental on the long-term.

Conclusion about the opioid epidemic

The topic of opioid addiction is multifaceted. I summarized a lecture presented at the 27th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas from Dec. 13 to 15th, 2019 by Dr. Lembke. She talked about the opioid epidemic and the difficulties keeping the science of opioids separated from the marketing by Big Pharma. Three myths of Big Pharma were analyzed and on every occasion the truth was the opposite of the myth. Chronic pain does not respond to opioids, yet many physicians keep on prescribing these drugs. Medicaid does not help poor patients. They get twice the opioid prescriptions as non-Medicaid patients get. But Medicaid patients die at 6-times the rate from prescription overdoses. There are many unanswered questions regarding opioids. Hopefully, more judicious prescribing by physicians and alternative ways of treating pain by chiropractors, physiotherapist and acupuncturists will gradually improve the situation.

Incoming search terms:

Although people increased the use of brain stimulating substances in the last 17 years, nobody paid attention to the situation, when natural substances turn into poison. The Center for Injury Research and Policy and the Ohio State University College of Medicine, both in Columbus, OH conducted a study. The researchers looked at the use of natural substances from 2000 to 2017. They noted that during this time marijuana had increased by 150% and there was a 64% increase of nutmeg use. Nutmeg contains the hallucinogenic substance myristicin, a potent mind-altering substance. There was a 4949% increase of kratom use, which comes from the leaves of a South American tree which have powerful mind-altering substances. The original study of the researchers was published here.

More hallucinogenic substances

Other natural substances came from Jimson weed, where the leaves and seeds contain natural substances that cause hallucinations and euphoria. It contains the chemicals atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine. These interfere with the normal messenger molecule acetylcholine in the brain and in nerves. 21% of all toxic reactions between 2000 and 2107 were due to Jimson weed. Besides those, 16% of all toxic reactions came from magic mushrooms. There are other natural substances which are similar. They come from a shrub that grows in East Africa and southern Arabia. Khat contains the alkaloid cathinone, which is a stimulant. It causes excitement, loss of appetite, and euphoria.

More details about the different natural substances and their actions

Marijuana

Marijuana includes dried leaves, the stem, seeds and flowers of the Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica plant. The mind-altering THC compounds are what people are seeking out. When a person smokes marijuana, the THC enters the blood through the lungs. The THC reaches the brain and causes a “high”. This can be associated with seeing brighter colors, get an altered sense of time, have hallucinations, delusions and in severe cases a psychosis. Marijuana peaks at different times depending on whether it is smoked or taken in as an edible. When smoked, the effect of marijuana is felt by the user within a few minutes. Ingested as edibles will take 30 minutes to one hour to show an effect, but it lasts a lot longer (3 to 4 hours). This is important to know, particularly if other agents including alcohol are combined with marijuana.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg is used in small amounts as a spice, typically ¼ to ½ teaspoon in a family dinner. However, when a person consumes 2 teaspoons or more of nutmeg, such as more than 10 mg, toxic symptoms occur. Symptoms from myristicin, the active substance in nutmeg, can be hallucinations, dizziness, confusion and seizures.

Kratom

Kratom is a tropical tree (Mitragyna speciosa), which is native in Southeast Asia. The leaves contain mind-altering compounds. At this time kratom is freely available on the Internet. There is no restriction in the US. But there are health concerns. Kratom has both opioid and stimulant effects on the brain. It produces sensations of pleasure, sedation and decreased pain. In small amounts people experience increased energy, sociability and alertness. There are a number of side effects: nausea, sweating, itchiness, dry mouth, increased urination, constipation, loss of appetite, hallucination and seizures. Kratom caused 8 of the 42 deaths reported by the Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH study.

Jimson weed

The leaves and the seeds of Jimson weed are used by drug-seeking individuals. It causes hallucinations and euphoria, a heightened sense of well-being. It contains the chemicals atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine. These interfere with acetylcholine, one of the major hormones in the brain and nerves. 15-100 grams of leaf and 15-25 grams of the seeds can be lethal. Children are more sensitive, so the lethal dose is much smaller for them. Jimson weed slows down the stomach emptying and also the activities of the large intestine leading to severe constipation. It can cause glaucoma and also rapid heartbeat. Urinary retention is also common.

Khat

Khat is a drug found in the wild East African shrub called Catha edulis. It contains a central nervous system stimulant, called cathinone. People living on the Arabian Peninsula are chewing the leaves of this plant. It is illegal in Canada and the US. In Ethiopia 30% of adolescent girls and 70% of the adolescent boys chew khat. The effect of khat is similar to the effect of a strong coffee. It has a stimulant effect like the coca plant that is used to make cocaine. It increases respirations, elevates blood pressure and leads to gum disease. This results in tooth decay. Ulcers and constipation occur more often. People on khat become more talkative, elated and euphoric. Some say that they have more imagination and are able to associate things better. From a medical point of view Khat causes constipation, hemorrhoids and impotence. Other symptoms are blurred vision, headaches and dizziness.

Kava kava

Piper methysticum, a plant native to the western Pacific Islands is from which kava kava is made. Kava kava relaxes you, but it has caused liver damage and is even responsible for a few deaths. It has been banned from many European countries and Canada. It is still available in the US. Some people take kava kava for sleeping problems, anxiety and restlessness. There are many more claims that kava kava would be effective for other diseases, but those claims have not been confirmed by research. Kava kava is detoxified in the liver, but in doing so there are profound interactions with other drugs that get detoxified in the liver. This liver toxicity has led to irreversible liver damage requiring a liver transplant. Several people have died because of liver failure.

Magic mushroom

Wild mushrooms, namely magic mushrooms that contain psilocybin are a popular way to get a high. Psilocybin is psychoactive and hallucinogenic. Psilocybin is classified as a Schedule I drug in the US, meaning that it is highly addictive, but has no currently accepted medical use for treating any medical condition. Magic mushrooms cause nausea, yawning, drowsiness, nervousness, panic, paranoia, hallucinations and psychosis.

Toxic side effects of natural substances reported to Poison Control

There were 67,369 calls to poison control centers in the United States between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2017 regarding natural substances. This is when natural substances turn into poison. There were 41.4% from calls regarding older than 19-year-old individuals. 34.8% of calls to the poison control center was regarding the age group between 13- and 19-year olds. 46.9% of cases were due to marijuana, 21.1% of the calls to the poison control centers were due to anticholinergic plants, 15.6% were due to hallucinogenic mushrooms. In the age group of 3-19 years 47.8% called because of marihuana overdoses. Above the age of 19 it was 53.0% who overdosed on marijuana. In children less than 6 years of age 44.4% of toxic overdoses came from anticholinergic plants.

Deaths reported in the study

The study reported 42 deaths from 2000 to 2017. 8 deaths were due to kratom. 7 deaths among the 42 deaths occurred in people under the age of 18. 5 of the 42 deaths occurred in teenagers aged 13 to 19. Two of the deaths occurred in children under the age of 12. These were due to marijuana.

Discussion

When reviewing the research of natural substances with the potential to cause addiction, it is important to see things in the right perspective.

Natural substances can be poisonous for you

Many people think that a natural substance, like a leaf from nature, should be trustworthy. But it is the chemicals that people swallow, inhale or chew that matter. Opium also comes from a “harmless” poppy seed. But opium is a powerful and addictive substance. All of the natural substances reviewed above contain potent mind-altering agents. This means that the natural substances are not safe.

Using SPECT scan to measure brain activity

None of the above-mentioned natural substances are harmless. They all attack the brain and interfere with the action of the natural brain hormones in the brain. This may be reversible for a few weeks, but eventually it leads to a chemical burn with permanent damage to the brain. This is when natural substances turn into poison. Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist has developed a scan that will depict changes in the brain in addicted persons. It is called the Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography or SPECT scan. This nuclear medicine scan measures blood circulation of the brain and brain activity. With prolonged use all of the natural substances show a decreased brain activity pattern on the SPECT scan.

Missing toxicity studies about natural substances

Armed with the SPECT scan as a tool and the knowledge that all of the reviewed “natural” substances have toxic effects on the brain makes one wonder how US citizens could willingly consume these substances for the past 17 years. It was probably a mix of curiosity, peer pressure and the fact that these natural substances were readily available, which made many people try them. There is very little research about toxicity in this field. This is only starting now. To my way of thinking this is another warning sign that people should stop their love-affair with mind-altering natural substances.

When Natural Substances Turn Into Poison

Conclusion

I have reviewed the thorny issue of natural substances and how they can turn into poisons. All of the substances reviewed affect brain function. This is why people experience hallucinations, elations and euphoria. But this is not real. It is due to the toxic effect of chemicals on the brain.Advertisements promote kava kava as a relaxing substance. But it can damage the liver and as a result several people have died. It is unknown to a large extent how these natural substances interact with other illicit drugs or with alcohol.

It is best to avoid consuming any of these natural substances. Anybody who consumes them is knowingly consuming a poison, and it means that the user will get into health problems…naturally!

Recently CNN reported about the most the 5 most addictive drugs. Before I review these drugs I like to briefly describe the dopamine reward system in the brain.

Introduction

The pleasure center consists of the nucleus accumbens, the amygdala and the hippocampus. Together they contain dopamine neurons that communicate with the grey matter nerve cells in the prefrontal cortex. A pleasurable meal, sex, winning a video game, listening to music, earning money and reading a funny cartoon can all cause dopamine release that is perceived as pleasure. But so can drugs, such as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and taking street drugs. The problem is that these latter dopamine releasing substances and drugs cause stronger activation of the dopamine system than natural rewards. But unlike natural rewards they do not cause satiety. This is the basis why drug addiction can kill.

Review of the five most addicting drugs

The neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt has been part of a committee that decided what the five most addictive drugs are.

Heroin

This is the most addictive drug. It is an opiate that causes the dopaminergic neurons to release up to 200% more dopamine than usual in experimental animals. Heroin is dangerous, because the dose that kills a person is only five times higher than the dose that leads to a high. Most deaths occur because of overdoses.

Cocaine

This drug turns dopamine neurons on, but prevents them from turning the dopamine signal off. In animal experiments cocaine caused the dopamine level to get elevated three times the normal level. 21% of people will become dependent on cocaine sometime during their life when they try it. Methamphetamine, another street drug, is similar to the strength and addictive qualities of cocaine.

Nicotine

When a person smokes a cigarette, the nicotine in it reaches the brain quickly as it is absorbed through the lungs and transported in the blood vessels to the brain. In 2002 there were about 1 billion people on earth who smoked. Every year about 8 million people die from smoking. It was shown in rats that smoking causes dopamine levels in the reward system to rise 25% to 40%.

Barbiturates

This class of drugs also has the name “downers”, because they calm you down and put you to sleep. But they also killed Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. Both died from an overdose, which suppressed their respiratory center, and they stopped breathing. In low doses barbiturates stimulate the brain and they cause euphoria, but higher doses cause respiratory failure. Nowadays barbiturates are more difficult to get, because physicians prescribe different drugs for insomnia. When a drug is not easily obtainable, it tends to fade in importance in the addiction scene.

Alcohol

In contrast to barbiturates alcohol is readily available. When a person consumes alcohol, the dopamine neurons release between 40% and 360% more dopamine than usual. 22% of people who consume alcohol develop a dependency problem later in life. The WHO estimated that about 2 billion people are addicted to alcohol and 13 million are dying from it every year. The causes of death are varied: car accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, alcohol induced dementia and various cancers.

Dr. Amen’s brain scans

Dr. Amen is a psychiatrist who specializes in SPECT scan technology. SPECT stands for Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography. This is summarized in this review.

Briefly, a SPECT scan shows where the blood flows in the brain and where it doesn’t flow. People who abuse drugs or nicotine develop areas that have a lack of perfusion. It looks like holes in the brain as depicted in this link, which can create abnormal thinking patterns. Fortunately with drug rehabilitation the brain pattern can normalize again.

The Most Addictive Drugs

Conclusion

The hallmark of drug and nicotine addiction is that the addicted person relies on using a drug to release dopamine from the reward system. Normal pleasures that would do this such as good food, sex or exercise are no longer acceptable to the addicted person. They need drugs, alcohol or nicotine to experience a stronger response. Dr. Amen’s work has shown that this behavior leads to altered brain function with holes visible on SPECT scans (Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography). Rehabilitation from drug use normalizes the findings on SPECT scans and helps the patient to return to normal functioning.

When you emptied an entire bag of potato chips, you may ask yourself: what makes chips addictive? Scientists talk about hedonic hyperphagia or hedonic hunger. In plain English, it is the pleasure of eating, even when you are not hungry. There are certain foods that seduce you to overeat, and one of these are chips. Chocolate or candy can be other high-hedonic rating foods.

Erlangen experiments

A group of researchers from the Erlangen University in Germany set out to get to the bottom of this addiction eating. 17 healthy subjects with a body mass index of between 19 and 27 were recruited for eating experiments. They got either high calorie chips or low calorie zucchini. The chips created a marked stimulation on a functional MRI scan where the nucleus accumbens was lighting up. When they consumed zucchini no such stimulation could be documented. The researchers had done similar experiments with the same foods on rats. They too had functional MRI scans and the tests showed similar stimulation after the test animals consumed chips, but not after zucchini.

Nucleus accumbens, the addiction center for food

Professor Andreas Hess and his team in Erlangen say that the nucleus accumbens is the addiction center for food. They also did experiments with fat to carbohydrate composition to find the most addictive mixture. There is a certain fat to carbohydrate ratio that triggers food addiction. What surprised the Erlangen researchers was that both in rats and humans the optimal addiction potential was identical.

They found that rats preferred 35% of fat and 45% of carbohydrates in their chips. With humans there is the other factor: on top of the fat/carb mixture we like to taste some salt and spices, because this also will stimulate our appetite. The food industry has figured this out long time ago. This knowledge from tasting experiments is built into processed food.

The Erlangen researchers also found that in obese people the nucleus accumbens was lighting up more intensely the higher the BMI was. That means that obese people are more food-addicted!

Triggering the nucleus accumbens

Professor Hess postulates that the 35% fat to 45% carb mix in potato chips is ideal for the body. It can mobilize quick energy from carbs, but also have storable energy from fat at the same time. It is this mix, which stimulates the addiction center in the nucleus accumbens.

In a study from Bethesda, Maryland researchers found an overlap between food addiction and drug addiction. The common pathways in both is the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. This dopamine release makes us feel good, and as a result, we want to experience it again.

In this study patients with bulimia nervosa were examined. They found that overconsumption of sugar-laden foods had very similar effects as drugs in drug-addicted patients. It is the release of dopamine, glutamate and the opioid system that are involved in both. The nucleus accumbens is also receiving stimulation in both situations.

What can be done about food addiction?

This publication noted that people who are food addicted eat higher amounts of fat and carbohydrates. With this mix the feel-good nucleus accumbens produces most dopamine, which is the driving force behind the addiction.

If you cut out sugar, you find it easier to control your eating portions. But you also must cut out processed food, as this is where a lot of hidden sugar is coming from.

Cut down on your fat consumption. Even if you reduce it from 35% to 10% or 15%, this is a huge step forward. It reduces your calorie intake significantly, but also reduces the stimulation of your appetite center.

Eat lots of vegetables, salads and some fruit. Be careful with some fruit like grapes, bananas, mangos, papayas and dates. They are all higher in sugars. If you cannot entirely avoid those, use portion control, so you are not overeating on them.

Portion control

Besides changing the food quality, you can reduce the portions of food you are eating. Instead of mindlessly emptying a whole bag of chips, you could get a small bowl and fill part of the bag of chips into it. Remove the bag into a cupboard that is difficult to reach. If you are sitting and watching TV, you could eat one chip at a time, but only during commercial breaks. This way your chip eating becomes more conscious and more controlled, and you set a limit. In time you may find that you can replace the chips with a lower calorie food like slices of apples, celery sticks or carrot sticks.

What Makes Chips Addictive?

Conclusion

Researchers found that chips were addictive in rats and in humans. Functional MRI scans of brains in rats and humans showed that potato chip eating stimulated the nucleus accumbens. It was lighting up in both species when the test subjects consumed potato chips. Surprisingly, it did not matter, whether these were test animals or humans! A review of several research papers showed a similarity between food addiction and drug addiction. It is dopamine and other brain transmitters that stimulate the nucleus accumbens, which is the addiction center. One of the keys, professor Hess from Erlangen University in Germany found, is the fat/carb mix. When the potato chips contained 35% fat and 45% carbs, this stimulated the nucleus accumbens.

Changing your eating habits

Knowing all of this helps us to be able to change our eating habits. To avoid the pitfalls of food addiction, cut out sugar and starchy foods, and remove processed foods from your diet. Also reduce some of the fat to 10% or 15% fat in your total diet. Eat lots of vegetables and fruit low in sugar. In addition you should also consider with portion control to avoid mindless munching. Before you know it you can shed the pounds that you may have accumulated before. You will be able to reduce your BMI to 21 to 23. Many people have done it before you.

A new study from France documented dementia from excessive alcohol abuse. One million patients who needed admission to hospitals in France for early dementia took part in that study. This was based on this publication. Dementia is a clinical syndrome, where the cognitive ability deteriorates progressively.

The study from France regarding dementia from excessive alcohol abuse

According to the French National Hospital Discharge database it was especially relevant that alcohol use disorders were present in 16.5% of the men and 4% of the women with dementia. Those who did not have the diagnosis of dementia had only half the amount of alcohol abuse disorders in both sexes.

There are other diseases that can lead to dementia like Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease. These cases were not part of this study.

The association with alcohol abuse was particularly evident in early dementia cases at an age below 65.

Furthermore, alcoholics also have a shorter life expectancy.

Several mechanisms responsible for dementia development

Alcohol can cause dementia in several ways.

First of all, alcohol and the metabolic by-product acetaldehyde have toxic effects on the brain. They cause long-term toxic effects and functional brain damage is the result.

Furthermore, heavy alcohol abuse leads to liver damage with resulting changes in metabolism. Ammonia production from the cirrhotic liver causes brain damage in a condition called hepatic encephalopathy.

In addition, heavy drinking is a strong vascular risk factor. This leads to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.

Often it is the population group that is uneducated, people who smoke and people with depression who suffer from the effects of alcohol abuse.

Finally, heavy drinking is more frequent in men than in women. In men the dementia risk was 4.7-fold, in women 4.3-fold.

Obesity, smoking and high blood pressure are also risk factors for dementia. If these cases were not part of the study, heavy alcohol abuse caused an increase in dementia in both sexes by a factor of 3-fold.

Possible biases of the study

Dr. Kostas Lyketsos, a neuropsychiatry professor and director of the John Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center did not take part in the study and its investigation. A non- biased observer, Dr. Kostas Lyketsos stated that there is a problem with precision of the data the larger the study population is. In this case there were more than 1 million participants, so a number of biases can influence the outcome of the study. For instance, one problem is that these patients with mild cognitive impairment were inpatients in a hospital. Normally such patients would not be in a hospital. Another fact was that none of the participants had received questionnaires of the amount of alcoholic drinks they consumed, and as a result it is difficult to knows exactly how high the amount of alcohol was that caused the damage to the brain.

Country bias

The large sample size was from only one country, France. This means that we do not know whether there would be ethnic differences between countries. Nevertheless the findings of this study are important. In a 2014 review by the WHO the average person in France consumed 12.2 liters of pure alcohol per year. In contrast the average person in the US consumed only 9.2 liters of pure alcohol in this year. Apart from these concerns it is important to realize that alcohol has toxic effects on the brain. This can also result in dementia.

Other studies regarding alcohol abuse and dementia

The media has praised alcohol for preventing heart attacks. On the other hand, there are other articles in which we hear about alcoholic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis, both of which can be killer diseases. To get some clarification, let us examine the various facts.

Dr. Finnel mentioned that 7.9% of all emergency room visits in the US are due conditions which have an association to alcohol(Ref.1). When the causes of deaths that are a consequence to alcohol are listed, they are: cancer of the mouth and pharynx, alcohol abuse disorders, coronary heart disease causing heart attacks, cirrhosis of the liver, traffic accidents, poisonings, falls and intentional injuries. You don’t get that from the news. Instead you read about the one glass of red wine per day that is good for women and up to two glasses of red wine that is good for men to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Bioflavonoids

It is the bioflavonoids and among those in particular resveratrol, that are the active ingredient responsible for heart health.

Resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant that protects against ischemia-reperfusion injuries. It is responsible for the cardio protective properties of red wine known as the “French paradox” (Ref.2). According to this reference resveratrol contributes to at least 3 processes that stabilize the metabolism.

Toxicity of alcohol

According to the WHO 5.9% of all deaths worldwide is a consequence of alcohol overconsumption. In 2012 the WHO recorded that 7.6% of deaths in males, but only 4% of female deaths were due to alcohol. Toxicity comes from the breakdown product acetaldehyde, which all cells can convert from alcohol. Liver cells are especially able to do that. According to Ref. 3 alcohol diffuses easily through all of the cell membranes and reaches every organ in the body. The toxicity of acetaldehyde is shutting down the mitochondria, which affects the energy metabolism and causes cell death. The immune system reacts with inflammation, when it attempts to repair the damage.

So, what are the major damages which alcohol can cause? First there is fat accumulation (steatosis), next chronic inflammation followed by necrosis (dying of cells) and finally fibrosis. An example of fibrosis is liver cirrhosis, where non-functioning connective tissue replaces liver cells.

Different tissue sensitivity to alcohol

Certain tissues are more susceptible to alcohol toxicity than others. As the concentration of alcohol is highest in tissues that are in direct contact with alcoholic drinks, cancers related to alcohol consumption develop in the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, and in the colon and rectum. The pancreas is particularly vulnerable to inflammation and fibrotic changes with degeneration into cancer of the pancreas. The heart tissue and the arteries are very sensitive to alcohol. Hypertension, heart attacks, stroke, cardiomyopathy and myocarditis as well as irregular heart beats (arrhythmias) can develop. The brain is very sensitive to toxic effects of alcohol as well. This causes major depression, personality changes with violent behavior, car accidents and injuries.

Other toxic effects of alcohol on organs

Kidney disease (alcoholic nephropathy) is another illness due to too much alcohol. Five percent of breast cancers in northern Europe and North America are a direct consequence to the toxic effects of alcohol (Ref.3). Finally, the liver being so active in detoxifying alcohol, will be not functioning and finally develops liver cirrhosis, as described before. This accounts for a lot of premature deaths at a relatively young age (typically in the mid to late 50’s).

Ref. 3 goes on to say that literature exists which claims that 1 to 2 drinks per day would be useful for prevention of heart disease. But the observation of the authors is that people will not discipline themselves to stick to these limits and very quickly enter into the zone of alcohol toxicity. The authors further noted that with regard to causing any kind of cancer there is no safe lower limit; the risk is directly proportional to the amount of alcohol consumed and the risk starts right above the zero point.

The pathologist has the last word

When I studied medicine at the University of Tübingen, Germany I attended lectures in the pathology department where Professor A. Bohle, M.D. demonstrated pathology findings of deceased patients. Dr. Bohle had a special interest in Mallory bodies. These are alcohol inclusion cysts within liver cells that can be stained with a bright red dye.

Histological documentation of toxic effects in livers of corpses

I will never forget when Prof. Bohle pointed out that the livers of this most diverse population, whose bodies we had the privilege as medical students to study, had a rate of 25% positive Mallory bodies. He wanted to impress on us as medical students to watch out for the alcoholics that are usually missed in general practice. Obviously 25% of the pathology population was affected by the consumption of alcohol. It was Prof. Bohle’s hope that we could perhaps interfere on the primary care level before things went out of control. Many of these corpses were the sad results of traffic accidents that could have been prevented. (In 2018 things have changed: seat belts and alcohol limits are standard, in 1968 in Germany they were not).

Alcohol as an aging substance

Consistent use of alcohol on a regular basis will slow down cell metabolism and hormone production significantly. The major effect of alcohol leads to poisoning of the mitochondria in multiple organs, which translates into faster aging and a shortened life expectancy. This in turn results in a change of appearance. An older person who has abused alcohol for a number of years may look 5 to 10 years older than their chronological age.

50% of people above the age of 65 drink daily (Ref.4). Some more statistics: alcohol abuse in elderly men is 4-times higher than in elderly women. 5% to 10% of all dementia cases are related to alcohol abuse. About 15% of older adults are experiencing health risks from abusing alcohol. And about 90% of older adults are using medications. Close to 100% of medications can adversely interact with alcohol (Ref.4).

Social pressure

These are the scientific facts, and then there is social pressure, when you are invited to a party.

When you are young and believe that you are invincible, do you care what the science says? You want to have a “good time” and not worry about consequences. The data about long-term exposure and a slowly increasing cancer risk is there. The wine industry will remind you that 1 drink for women and two drinks for men will protect you from heart attacks. They will withhold the cancer information from you, as they don’t really want to hear about that (yes, it’s bad for their business!).

Resisting social pressure and doing what is good for you

Can you have a good time at a party without drinking alcohol? Yes, you can. You can talk and you can listen; you are probably more with it than those who had too much to drink. I like mineral water and hold on to a glass of that.

I explained in a blog before how I was convinced by three speakers at an A4M conference to join those who abstain from alcohol.

Socializing without alcohol is doable. You may at times miss it, but you can warm up even to a crowd that had a few drinks too much. It is about choice: we can choose what we want out of life.

Dementia From Excessive Alcohol Abuse

Conclusion

Alcohol is a cell and nerve poison. The medical need for “one glass of wine for women and two glasses of wine for men to prevent heart attacks and strokes” has been vastly exaggerated. Fact is that resveratrol and other antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E can also prevent cardiovascular disease. They are alcohol-free! The risk of dementia development as a long-term result of alcohol exposure is something that is only now getting attention by the medical profession. We live longer these days, and this makes alcohol exposure over the decades a real threat to our mental wellbeing. Consumption of alcohol needs to be re-evaluated by every one of us. What risks are we willing to take? Is the stress-relieving effect of alcohol worth the risk of losing our mind to Alzheimer’s disease? If we care about our future the answer should be clear!

We have a drug epidemic, but drugs are not an escape. Along with this epidemic there have been thousands of lethal overdoses. I like to review why so many people use street drugs or prescription pain pills. It started years ago with heroin injections had become more popular. But then heroin was getting a bad name, it became illegal, and prescription pain pills replaced heroin. Percocet, OxyContin and morphine prescriptions took off. Together with it the number of people with addiction increased drastically. The latest fashion craze is Fentanyl. Fentanyl works faster than morphine, but also wears off faster. One of the deadly side effects is respiratory depression. This means that a person cannot breathe and as a result will die. This is what is happening right now and what creates the news headlines.

Pain receptors

There are pain receptors all over the body, in muscles, organs and the skin. They are called nociceptors. Many medical conditions lead to pain in various parts of the body. For instance, with end stage degenerative arthritis bone rubs on bone. This causes a lot of pain in joints like the knees or the hips. Physicians often prescribe narcotics like OxyContin to control the pain. It may help for some time. But after a few weeks patients complain that the strength of OxyContin has worn off. The same dosage that gave them relief from the pain initially just does not give them relief any more. This observation is crucial. It is exactly what people who use OxyContin as illicit street drug found as well. The drug wears off, because the opioid receptors are getting weaker.

Pain receptor resistance

Nociceptors or opioid receptors are pain receptors. These receptors report pain to the body, and they have connections through the spinal cord to the brain. When an opioid is interacting with the pain receptor it inhibits acute pain to a large extent. But when the pain becomes chronic, the pain receptor is not working as well. More and more of the pain medication is necessary to achieve pain relief. Eventually the opioid medication is not working to relieve pain any more. The name for this phenomenon is “pain receptor resistance”. Scientific work behind why pain receptors get lazy in responding to opioids is still ongoing. In the meantime it simply is an observation. This is the reason why drug addicts are tending to increase the dosage of OxyContin or of Fentanyl. The toxic threshold of Fentanyl that is exceeded in the process is the reason for the deaths.

Insulin resistance

You may have heard of insulin resistance in diabetics. This is a very similar problem. With insulin resistance the diabetic no longer has a 100% response to insulin. This means that blood sugar is not going through cell membranes effectively as it should when the insulin receptor is working. The blood sugar values stay high and make the diabetes worse.

With pain receptor resistance the opioid is not giving the relief from pain it used to give. No wonder that the patient is feeling frustrated that the pain medication is no longer working properly.

Therapeutic index

The layperson does not normally know that there is a dosage for any drug where it becomes toxic. There is also a lower dosage where the drug is becoming effective. The difference between the two dosages is the “therapeutic window” or the “therapeutic index”.

Morphine has a therapeutic index of 70:1. Compare that to alcohol with a therapeutic index of only 10:1. Fentanyl has a therapeutic index of 300:1.

The danger of Fentanyl

One would think that Fentanyl should be safer than morphine, because the therapeutic index is larger. But the onset of Fentanyl is much faster than that of morphine and by the time drug users take Fentanyl they often are desperate for the drug to take their pain away and they overdose, which causes respiratory depression. If they are not intubated by an anesthetist and connected to artificial respiration, they die very quickly. Janssen Pharmaceutica first developed Fentanyl in 1959. Fentanyl was strictly part of the pre-anesthetic medicine for patients before going into surgery requiring a general anesthetic. The anesthetist was right there and would intubate the patient. That’s why we never heard of deaths from Fentanyl in the past.

If a person gets no pain relief from any opioid because of receptor resistance, the tendency is to increase the dosage. But this is what pushes the person into toxic ranges and this is what causes death from inadvertently suppressing the ability to breathe. People can get into trouble with alcohol overdoses, but the ordinary person usually knows how to handle alcohol. Fentanyl is a lot different due to the fact that respiratory depression (not being able to breathe) is one of the early symptoms that hits you suddenly.

What drugs do to your brain

Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist and brain researcher has used SPECT brain scans to produce images of different clinical conditions. This link shows the effect of a stroke, of Alzheimer’s disease and of drug abuse on the brain. Dr. Amen says that a brain can be rehabilitated. He has other SPECT images showing the images of an addicted brain and that of a rehabilitated brain. Spect scans are expensive. But they may be worth it, to impress a drug addict to stop the drugs and get rehabilitated.

Big Pharma and opioid drugs

In 1995 the FDA approved the use of OxyContin for chronic pain. Perdue Pharma, the drug company that had developed this opioid convinced the FDA that OxyContin stayed in the blood for 12 hours and they claimed that by being active longer than other opioids this would lead to better pain control and less addiction. It turns out that this was a slick sales pitch, however it was not true. Pain receptor resistance is as much a problem with OxyContin as with any other opioid. And the drug is as addictive as all the others. But the problem is that the FDA had approved OxyContin. What’s more, Purdue Pharma sent aggressive drug representatives to all the practicing physicians misleading them as well as the FDA that OxyContin would not be as addictive as other opioids.

Penalty for misrepresentation of OxyContin

In 2007 Purdue Pharma had to pay a fine of 634 million $ for misrepresenting the addiction potential of OxyContin. But the drug company was allowed to continue to market OxyContin. Since 2015 Purdue Pharma has been cashing in 2.4 billion $ annually from the sales of opioids including OxyContin. In the meantime Fentanyl, despite its danger of suppressing the ability to breathe, has taken off with regard to sales. Fentanyl also has taken over in terms of causing deaths across the US and other countries.

Alternative treatment of pain

According to Ref. 1 chances are that 70% of patients with back pain will get better with a few visits to an acupuncturist. In 1972 Dr. Ulett’s laboratory at the University of Missouri succeeded in getting the first NIH research grant for the study of acupuncture in the US. During these studies they found remarkable facts, the most important perhaps that electrical stimulation of acupuncture needles resulted in a doubling of the effectiveness of traditional Chinese acupuncture. After extensive research Dr. Ulett stated: ”The ancient practice of traditional Chinese acupuncture is now obsolete” (Ref.1). in the meantime the more effective electro-acupuncture has replaced acupuncture needles with the use of electrical skin pads.”

Other applications for electroacupuncture

Beside pain relief many other applications exist for electro-acupuncture. Addiction medicine makes use of electro-acupuncture in weaning people from morphine or heroine etc. It is effective to treat psychiatric illness, particularly depression. It is useful in relieving nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy with cancer treatments or associated with pregnancy without affecting the pregnancy.

Prolotherapy

Prolotherapy has been successful for the treatment of back and neck pain, for arthritic pain and pain from chronic muscle spasm. When prolotherapy is done by itself 12.5% Dextrose is injected into the area of injury. Dr. Fields said that the reason it works is that there is activation of local stem cells in the injured area in the area of the Dextrose injection site. These stem cells will do the healing (details explained in an interview with Dr. Reeves). Further improvement of this technique and better results are possible by injecting a small amount of platelet rich plasma (PRP) very focally to an area of ligament rupture. PRP is obtained by centrifuging blood from the patient’s vein. The red blood cells are not necessary, but the platelet fraction and some of the plasma are part of the the PRP preparation.

It is often striking how much pain control occurs after only one or two prolotherapy treatments.

Stem cell therapy with PRP and low-dose laser therapy

This is a more direct way to get stem cells where the doctor wants them to do their work. Stem cell therapy with PRP and low-dose laser activation is the latest in terms of controlling pain. At the 22nd Annual Anti-Aging Conference in Las Vegas (Dec.10 to 14, 2014) Dr. Purita gave an overview of this method of pain control. He discussed the importance of the proper harvesting of PRP. He explained that apart from white blood cells (WBC) and platelets an important component of PRP are very small embryonic like stem cells (VSELs). They are visible through the microscope. The missing link has been the observation that white blood cells produce inflammatory substances, which have been detrimental in stem cell injections with PRP in the past. There was a poor survival rate of stem cells.

Low dose laser activation of stem cells and PRP

Photo-activation of the PRP before injection leads to anti-inflammatory behavior of the WBC in PRP. Dr. Purita calls this “light activated PRP”, which leads to the best results with stem cell/PRP injections.

Soft laser stimulation with red, green and blue soft lasers have also been effective to improve tissue healing significantly when stem cells and PRP are used together with light activation. The main sources for good stem cells are the fat tissue (from the “love handles”) and the bone marrow (obtained from pelvic bone). The stem cells mesenchymal stem cells (from fatty tissue) and bone marrow stem cells. The mix of all of this can mend osteoarthritic joints, degenerative disc of the spine, in short all musculoskeletal injuries that may be painful. The hallmark of healing with stem cells is that chronic pain disappears.

Curative treatment versus symptomatic treatment

It is one thing to treat a patient for pain symptomatically by prescribing OxyContin or other opioids. It is a completely other thing when the physician cures the pain by one of these alternative methods. Let us assume that a patient has a fall of a few step from a ladder and sustains a contusion of the lower back. This can be painful and may require a few pain pills. But if it does not improve within one week and diagnostic tests show that there is no fracture, electroacupuncture may be the solution to treat the pain rather than the use of an opioid. If this does not help, consider the combination stem cell/PRP/low-dose laser therapy. Chances are better than 80% that this will help. The patient will no longer suffer of pain. With healing life can go on: no pain pills. No addiction. No death.

Drugs Are Not An Escape

Conclusion

Conventional medicine treats pain symptomatically instead of treating the cause. It gets the physician to prescribe opioids, which can be the beginning of a series of tragic events. It can lead to drug addiction, dose acceleration, toxic effects of opioids including possible death through asphyxiation from no longer being able to breathe.

Stem cell therapy

The physician who concentrates on treating causes will use alternative methods to treat pain. The most effective of these methods is stem cell therapy. It is a mixture of adipose mesenchymal stem cells with bone marrow stem cells that are part of the therapy. The addition of platelet rich plasma is another part of the mix, and the final step is activation of stem cells with low-dose laser therapy. The cell mix is injected in the critical area. The end result is that the patient’s pain disappears, and it leads to a cure. The only situation where short-term opioids are justifiable is following surgical procedures. But even in these cases the narcotics should only be necessary for a few days to avoid serious side effects.

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Many people drink too much coffee, so you may want to cut down coffee consumption. With all the good news about the health benefits when drinking coffee, some people went too far. They have overdone what was supposed to be good for them. Recently a study came out that tells you how to cut down coffee consumption.

But first I like to review the issue whether to drink caffeinated or decaf coffee. Next I will tell you how you can switch to decaf coffee.

Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee have the same health benefits

Recently a large study showed that coffee, caffeinated or not, has a connection with lower overall mortality.

Coffee has long been a subject of heated discussions. Some praise it, and others condemn it. There are multiple past studies; some showed health benefits, some did not. This is why the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA. did a larger study. The purpose was to re-examine the health benefits for both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee.

Researchers assessed mortality among 74,890 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS). Another 93,054 women in the NHS 2 study became part of this. And 40,557 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study were also part in this large study. The medium follow-up for all of these three groups was 22.5 years. 19,524 women and 12,432 men died during that time period. Ming Ding is a doctoral student at the Harvard School of Public Health department of nutrition. She was the lead author of this study. She pointed out that in the past there were confounding problems. Many studies had shown that both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption lowered the risk of cardiovascular disease. But the results in many studies were blurred. Studies often did not distinguish between smokers and non-smokers. This meant that the cardiovascular risk from smoking wiped out a beneficial effect from coffee drinking.

Confounding and other factors

Ding’s studies took this into account and also other confounding factors like how much sugary soda pop people were drinking and whether or not they were eating well. In addition they normalized for other factors that could interfere like drinking alcohol and eating red meat. Without normalizing for the factors mentioned above the study results were as follows. Study participants who had less than a cup of coffee and three cups a day had a 5% to 9% lower risk of dying than those who drank no coffee. Those who drank more than three cups a day did not see any benefit.

Dose response curve for regular and decaf coffee

After eliminating all the confounding factors researchers compared the various groups again, and the following linear dose-response curve emerged:

Less than 1 cup of coffee per day: 6% lower death rates than non-coffee drinkers.

1 cup to 3 cups of coffee per day: 8% lower death rates.

3 to 5 cups of coffee per day: 15% lower death rates.

More than 5 cups of coffee per day: 12% lower death rates.

Coffee consumption reduces diabetes and heart disease

Ming’s study connected with another research paper that had shown that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and also less heart disease. She found that both, caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, reduced the risk of getting diabetes later in life. When asked about what would be responsible for the reduced death rates with coffee consumption, she explained: “There are at least two known chemicals in coffee, namely lignans and chlorogenic acid that could reduce inflammation and help control blood sugar, both of which could help reduce the risk of heart disease”. You may want to cut down coffee consumption because you know decaf coffee does the same as regular coffee.

Other details about the caffeinated/decaf coffee study

Although there seems to be a linear response up to 5 cups of coffee consumption, above 5 cups this linear relationship disappeared. It was not explained whether there was a saturation point, whether there was yet another hidden confounding factor or whether there were detrimental effects on the adrenal glands with too much caffeinated coffee consumption.

Another finding was that it did not matter whether the coffee was regular (caffeinated) coffee or decaffeinated coffee. The results were identical.

Many other studies did not have the large numbers to show whether or not decaffeinated coffee was as effective in preventing heart disease as regular coffee.

Suicide rates and coffee consumption

There was another peculiar finding: suicides were down by 20% to 36%, if a person drank at least one cup of coffee per day. If a person consumed less than 1 cup of coffee per day the suicide rate was 36% higher than the control group with no coffee consumption. This is a rather peculiar finding, particularly for the consumption of less than 1 cup of coffee. Other studies also showed a decrease in suicide rates with coffee consumption.

Although previous studies had shown a reduction in liver and prostate cancer, after the removal of confounding factors this study did not show any effects on cancer causation or cancer death rates with coffee consumption.

Discussion

The Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA has excelled in high quality nutritional studies for decades. This study is particularly important, because it is so large, giving it more statistical power. Secondly, the observation time of an average of 22.5 years is longer than most coffee studies in the past. Add to this the removal of the “noise” (called confounding factors) that interfered with the objective of the study, and you end up with a very meaningful result.

Clear results after confounding factors were removed

The important findings were that both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee have the same effect of saving and extending lives. Perhaps you want to drink not more than 5 cups of coffee per day. That lowers your risk of premature death by 15%. It is most likely that it is the effect of lowering the rate of diabetes and heart attack rates that is responsible for the risk reduction. At least this was the opinion of the chief investigator. Cancer rates were not lowered by coffee consumption.

I sleep better when I drink decaffeinated coffee, so for me the notion that decaffeinated coffee and regular coffee have the same effect was important.

Revisit the statement: “you may want to cut down coffee consumption”

Now we know that there is no difference in benefits whether the coffee is caffeinated or not. Those of you who consume 3 to 5 cups of decaf coffee already enjoy a 15% reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease.

Those of you who take the same amount of regular coffee may get into a caffeine dependency problem. Because every time the caffeine stimulation wears off, you yearn for yet another cup of coffee. You need your fix, and this becomes a dependency problem. You have conditioned your body to that regular dose of caffeine, even though it is the bioflavonoids that are reducing mortality while caffeine is neutral.

My experience of coffee withdrawal

When I came across Ding’s research findings I was glad that now there was clarification about whether decaf coffee was as good as regular coffee. The next step for me was to cut out regular coffee and replace it by decaf coffee. Formerly I had been drinking 5 mugs of coffee daily (translated into 500 mg of caffeine daily). When I decided to quit this habit, I figured I should do it cold turkey from one day to the next. To my surprise this was a much bigger deal than I had thought.

Withdrawal symptoms

I craved the next cup of coffee, and I drank a decaf coffee. It did not help: Still, there was this craving for regular coffee! Yawning, restlessness and tiredness were symptoms that followed me all day long. Then there was irritability, a mild headache and almost flu-like symptoms. Eventually I went to sleep and woke up one hour later feeling a bit more energetic. But two hours later I had to lay down again. I was feeling that bushed. The following few days went better. There was more energy. But I still liked a noonday nap of about 1 hour.

Benefits of getting off regular coffee

This was not like me! Normally I have lots of energy and I don’t need naps. It took me 1-½ weeks to get over my 5-cup a day coffee withdrawal. But it was 100% worth it! Since then my energy is back to normal. I don’t have to chase coffee houses on a trip or ensure there is always a cup of regular coffee available for me at home (work does not apply, because I am retired). If I want I can replace my beloved coffee with another fluid. I love lemon juice sweetened with stevia instead of my decaf coffee. It is liberating that I no longer depend on the caffeine. But I still like the flavor of decaf coffee, and there is something enjoyable about the fragrance of freshly brewed coffee. And so I drink 3 to 4 cups of decaf coffee a day.

How to cut down coffee consumption

Here is a 2016 study from the Johns Hopkins University where 34 patients on 600 mg of caffeine per day received a 1-hour lecture about coffee withdrawal followed by a 6-week diary of their coffee consumption. They were asked to reduce their caffeine consumption down to 50 mg by week 6 of the coffee elimination program. Tests followed with salivary caffeine levels 6, 12 and 26 weeks after coffee cessation. There was also a 1-year follow-up telephone conversation. The results were that there was good compliance. Saliva caffeine levels verified this. The diaries over the first 6 weeks showed that the participants had gradually eliminated caffeine consumption. Perhaps this was a more humane way than my “cold-turkey” approach.

You May Want To Cut Down Coffee Consumption

Conclusion

Many people are sensitive to too much caffeine consumption in coffee and other caffeinated beverages. But since the Harvard study that I mentioned above there is no need to overdose coffee or tea consumption. Decaf coffee has the same effect on lowering death rates by 15%, as does regular coffee. It pays to avoid caffeine, as you will avoid caffeine dependency. Drink decaf coffee instead!

I also discussed that withdrawal from regular coffee can be done more gently over a 6 week period. I did it from one day to the next and had a 1-½ week long withdrawal reaction. Do it slower or faster, whatever works best for you. The end result will be the same. Then enjoy it that you no longer depend on caffeine!